Salmond added that Megrahi's death should "put to rest some of the conspiracy theories which have attempted to suggest that his illness was somehow manufactured."

Megrahi was said to have about three months to live at the time of his release.

Scotland's top lawyer, Frank Mulholland, told the FBI in December he believed the 1988 bombing, in which 270 people were killed, was an act of state-sponsored terrorism. Salmond, for his part, said authorities in Edinburgh suspect Megrahi didn't act alone.